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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Golden Compass, The
New Line Cinema


6.1

based on 33 reviews
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based on 254 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence

Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Eva Green, Sam Elliott, Simon McBurney, Clare Higgins, and Ian McKellen

Based on author Philip Pullman's bestselling and award-winning novel, The Golden Compass tells the first story in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The Golden Compass is an exciting fantasy adventure, set in an alternative world where people's souls manifest themselves as animals, talking bears fight wars, and Gyptians and witches coexist. At the center of the story is Lyra, a 12-year-old girl who starts out trying to rescue a friend who's been kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers--and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well. (New Line Cinema)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure \| Drama \| Family/Kids \| Fantasy \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Philip Pullman (novel) Chris Weitz
DIRECTED BY:	Chris Weitz
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 29, 2008 Theatrical: December 7, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A darker, deeper fantasy epic than the "Rings" trilogy, "The Chronicles of Narnia" or the "Potter" films. It springs from the same British world of quasi-philosophical magic, but creates more complex villains and poses more intriguing questions. As a visual experience, it is superb. As an escapist fantasy, it is challenging.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Represents the year's biggest gamble - and it delivers the year's biggest and most ambitious fantasy.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

A demanding blend of spectacle, drama and exposition of ideas.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

If Weitz's Golden Compass feels, at times, too crammed with exposition and big set pieces, the film nonetheless works far more successfully than the first Potter pic - the leaden "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - did translating its source material.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Weitz doesn't manage Pullman's feat of being rational and magical simultaneously. But he rapidly and intelligently opens up Pullman's world.

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

It’s pure introductory adventure, meant to immerse readers in Pullman’s richly complicated fantasy universe.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A "soft" epic, a film touching on childhood fantasies with sturdy, unwavering characters driven to evil or good. More "Harry Potter," in other words, than "Beowulf."

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

There are significant stretches of talky tedium, more than a few “huh” moments for neophytes – especially whenever anyone starts nattering on about Dust with a capital D – and the ending plays abruptly, but there’s plenty here to hang a franchise on.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

At times you feel Weitz flipping the pages and dog-earing wildly, and that's a shame: This is a movie that needs to be lengthy and discursive, the better to duck into the back alleys of its invention. A visionary is required. This director isn't one.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

One key missing element: the world in which this story takes place never feels unique. We aren't drawn into it the way we were with Middle Earth or Hogwarts. In fact, with all the airships flying around, there are times when it feels like an extension of Stardust.

Time Richard Corliss

There's something missing, beyond the iconoclastic theology, in this perfectly OK, blandly underwhelming superproduction. The movie lacks an elevating passion, a cohesive vision, a soul. It's as if The Golden Compass has misplaced its artistic compass. Somebody stole its daemon.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Ultimately satisfying and successful version of the opening volume of the celebrated "His Dark Materials" trilogy.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The Golden Compass does manage the job of bringing Pullman's world to the screen. With luck, any future entries will try harder to get the job done right.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

An innocuous, passably entertaining effects extravaganza.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The Golden Compass is a snowbound mystical-whizbang kiddie ride that hovers somewhere between the loopy and the lugubrious.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The film is dominated by computer-generated effects and they're most of its problem -- they don't give us anything to emotionally attach to or invest in.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Has many of the virtues of a faithful screen adaptation and many of the predictable flaws.

Premiere Deborah Day

Ultimately fails as a film in its broad strokes and inadequate scene development.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

For all the complicated backstory, weighty themes, action set pieces and fanciful production design, the film is oddly unengaging.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Disappoints with its lack of character development and convoluted storytelling.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Looks magical, seethes with elusive profundities and makes remarkably little sense, though the murkiness makes perfect sense on a shallower level.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The Golden Compass comes close, and its originality cannot be denied, but it never quite crosses over into your heart. It stops at your eyes.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The Golden Compass is a blatant attempt to duplicate the success of the "Harry Potter" franchise. The only thing missing is richly imagined characters, a comprehensible story line, good acting, and satisfying special effects.

Empire Olly Richards

A crushing disappointment for fans and a scuppered opportunity for a cinematic event. That the first book has been so mishandled doesn’t bode well for the (already greenlit) more complicated ones to come.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Whatever complex or interesting ideas might have been found in the source material have been watered down, skimmed over, mashed into nonsense or simply ignored.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Not only did those so-called "demons" take the form of animals, but they actually talked!

Slate Dana Stevens

A tepid, jumbled Hollywood fable whose final message seems to amount to little more than "Follow your dreams," or worse, "Stay tuned for the sequel."

Village Voice Michelle Orange

In drawing and quartering much of the novel's intent, Weitz ends up with a film that feels not just unfinished but undone.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie simply delivers too many colorfuls for its own good, none of whom establish a true emotional identity, and thus it isn't moving, it's busy. Busy, busy, busy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The final sad joke is this: Weitz took a wonderful story about the danger of severing a soul from its otherwise empty body and did that very thing to his source.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Five minutes before The Golden Compass started, I was wondering when it was going to start. Forty minutes into it, I was wondering exactly the same thing.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Me, I just think it blows. What does it matter if you spend millions on a movie - love the talking, battling bears! - if the effects are cheesy, the story runs off on tangents and after watching the movie fail utterly to be the next Lord of the Rings, you just want to go home.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 254 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay H. gave it a6:
Too complex for it's own good, rather than to flow steadily, it comes off more muddled than anything else. However, the art direction and sets are wonderful, and even though the special effects are computer generated, I thought they were terrific and imaginative. Family film? I can't see most kids sitting through the whole film. It sure is pretty to look at though.

Luis G. gave it a6:
It's hard not to feel like your being sold repetiveness after harry potter takes the crown and narnia steps down as well... compass is a good film .... visually stunning ... hope thers a sequel.

Kevin D. gave it a2:
While Kidman has yet to entirely dissapoint me, she came pretty darn cose in this travesty of a flim. Not so much for her acting, but her sheer involvement. It was an utter travesty in terms of dialogue, made no sense whatsoever. I've never experienced physical pain while watching a film, but I felt like I had just been attacked by a rapid bull after watching "The Golden Compass." Who to look out for:Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, without these two i would've given this film a zero.

Ken D. gave it a3:
Another soulless, green-screen monstrosity. Wonderful source material has been eviscerated in order to film a plodding checklist of the main plot points. There is one glimpse of what could have been; at one point Mrs Coulter slaps her monkey daemon and a slow track upwards uncovers a subtle bruise on her own face. This is the only point in the entire film where something is done cinematically to convey the kind of ideas that pulse through the book. Everything else is clunky dialogue or - as seen by Lyra in the alethiometer - literal images constructed from the tacky Christmas glitter that passes for Dust. To add insult to injury the Kate Bush song that plays over the end credits is completely appalling. She, like everyone else involved, should be ashamed.

Chad S. gave it a5:
Here is a paradox for you. Arguably, we want to learn more about the dust from one of these parallel universes Lord Asriel(Daniel Craig) prattles on about, but sitting through two more installments of this upstart trilogy(billed as the thinking man's "Harry Potter"), methinks is a taxing proposition, because "The Golden Compass" lays an egg, and it certainly isn't golden. For starters, a disproportionate amount of time is spent at the university, in which the exposition is laid out to us; at one point, in seminar-like fashion from a lectern. Lyra(Dakota Blue Richards), eventually, like Bilbo Baggins, leaves behind her sheltered existence and accompanies Marisa(Nicole Kidman) to the north as her assistant. That's when "The Golden Compass" starts to pay the price for its needless dawdling. Kidman is cheated out of precious screen time as Marisa, or rather Marisa's spirit, makes us wonder what it would be like if Joan Crawford had a monkey(what makes Marisa angry reminded me of the wire hanger scene in "Mommie Dearest"). This is where the film loses its footing. There's evidence of heavy editing here. "The Golden Compass" should've established Marisa as Lyra's mentor before the girl learns the truth about her duplicitous nature. The movie never truly recovers. This filmmaker is a novice at staging action scenes, and it shows. Kidman is upstaged by a talking polar bear. That's some bear, though.

Kelvin L gave it a6:
My 10 year old nephew loved it but I wasn't so blown away. Whilst the sets were impressive and the cast gave the film some gravitas I couldn't help feeling disappointed at the ending. Indeed I didn't actually expect the film to end when it did, I was expecting another showdown at least. I suppose the unresolved story lines were designed to open the way for a sequel, only I don't get a sense of completion of the first film. Can I really wait till 2009 at the earliest to see the next installment? Well the film needed to be much more rounded for me but having said that no doubt I'll be viewing the sequel whenever it may come.

Daniel S. gave it a2:
I can only assume the people who made this movie were so mesmerized by the source material and the computer generated graphics that they didn't feel any need to craft an entertaining movie. Read the book. Skip the movie.

Golden Compass, The New Line Cinema

Golden Compass, The
New Line Cinema